If you have a web cam hooked up to your computer,
Gabmail is a simple way to send a video recording via a link in your email, online course, blog, etc. This idea has cool implications for
elearning.
- First, it's simple. No need to understand video compression and optimizing. Just go to the site, make a recording, and send it via email.
- Second, Gabmail hosts the video so you don't have to worry about storage and file size.
- Third, it doesn't require a cumbersome username and password to use.
- Fourth, it's free.
I do have reservations about this product because of the movie trailer of a Sundance Film that follows each video. I do not think the trailor is appropriate for professional audiences. If they lose the trailer or move to something more professional, I would consider using this tool in my own online classroom in the following ways:
- Student Introductions - Each student could email the instructor and their peers a video introduction
- Minimize the effects of cheating by having students send you a video email after completing a test online indicating what they thought about specific questions.
- This could be an excellent tool for teaching a foreign language or a speech class.
- Students could use the tool to give oral presentations.
What are some other ways instructors could use this tool?
5 comments:
Another free (with limits) video recording and conferencing software is SightSpeed. Works with Mac & WIn.
Thanks for the info about SiteSpeed "carrier". I've been checking out their website and would like to compare the quality of SiteSpeed Vs. Skype at some point in the future.
Gabmail is a bit different than these two programs in that Gabmail is not a program at all since it does not require the user to download and install any software. It's a website service that enables video recording. Thanks again for the link to SiteSpeed.
Terence - Thanks for your comments about GabMail and GabJam. I'm one of the founders and you've really hit on the primary advantages of the service being no download, no registration and free. However, the real power is in the threading of messages. Especially in a GabJam. I'll post a GabJam from me to you below that you can Reply to. Once you have the link, neither of us has to actually send another email. We can just record them and when we refresh our browsers, the new videos just show up.
By the way, we've removed the movie trailer that you commented on earlier. You were right. It was too revealing for a general audience. The reason it was there was that, first, it was the only video ad we had and 2) it's my brother's movie and it's opening in NY in 5 days. He has only a limited advertising budget so I was trying to help him out. Anyway, it's no longer being streamed.
Here's my GabJam...(By the way, the size of the links will be greatly reduced as of today or tmorrow.)
To view your GabMail(tm) video email message simply click the link below or copy and paste the complete link into your browser.
http://FreeGabMail.com/AV/Viewer.html?vFileName=GabMail_2006/11/9/10_19_56AM_89615175&TID=P01xTFLJA82BS7L9389g07i1IKW76X941
Terrence, Blogger won't accept the long link. I"m going to paste it in parts that can then be combined into your browser. It's a Blogger thing, not us!
Mark.
http://FreeGabMail.com/AV/Viewer.html?
vFileName=GabMail_2006/11/9/10_19_5
6AM_89615175&TID=P01xTFLJA82BS7L938
9g07i1IKW76X941
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your kind words and for sending me a gabmail video. There is a "humanness" that comes across in video that one cannot achieve with text. I look forward to replying to your video on Monday. I think you have something here that meets a core need of the online learning environment with the gabjam feature. Threaded discussions are a staple of online courses and adding a video component to the tool adds a unique and personal tone to the course. By making the process of adding video user friendly, you have met a valuable need. Have you thought about setting up this service for individual universities similar to what apple is doing with ITUNES U? I’d be willing to help you explore that direction. Talk to you soon
Terence
Post a Comment